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I recently returned from an amazing week in Washington DC where I had the opportunity to present to partners on “how to take their Microsoft relationship to the next level”, visit many old friends and meet new friends. I also received some amazing feedback on Ultimate Guide to Partnering.
This is an important time at Microsoft and partners need to better understand how the changes will impact their business and engagement with the tech giant.
I asked a voice of the Microsoft partner field to help me take our listeners through the changes – what it means to partners and how this ultimately translates into action in the days ahead.
In this latest episode of the podcast I was joined by Bill Hawkins from Microsoft’s One Commercial Partner or OCP organization to share his thoughts on the changes, how they will impact partners and how partner sellers will engage to drive partner success in FY18.
In the discussion Bill pointed to an overarching theme – the right resource, engaging with the right partner, at the right time.
We discuss exactly what has changed. The slide below provides an overview of the roles and motions and we go through each element in more detail on the podcast.
We touch on the shift in compensation to better align sellers to the consumption model versus the transaction. Everyone in the field will be pivoting harder in this regard. More details on incentives plans will follow as changes roll out to the segments. They have not been released as of the date of this podcast to individuals in the Microsoft organization.
Toni Townes Whitley discussed the shift to “industry focused – partner powered” which is fundamental and allow for da eeper and more focused engagement by Microsoft sellers with partners into a given customer’s business. The 6 verticals are:
1. Financial Services
2. Manufacturing
3. Retail
4. Education
5. Health – 430 accounts, roughly $2B.
6. Government
We conclude here that it’s a great time to be a partner!
Satya’s announced 4 key solution areas for the business during his Monday keynote – its important to note that these are not stove-piped business silos, but interdependent solution sets:
1. Modern Workplace & introduced MICROSOFT 365
2. Business Applications – including DYNAMICS 365
3. Applications & Infrastructure –
4. Data and AI
In the days ahead, I’ll be asking leaders from Redmond and elsewhere to join the podcast and share more details on how these changes translate into success for partners.
Now more than any time – its important that Redmond have a persistent channel and message to partners and field sellers on how to drive the change to effect mutual success. I’m happy to be a conduit at scale through Ultimate Guide to Partnering.
I hope you enjoy this episode.
If you have not listened to the podcast, now is your chance by going to iTunes , Google Play, Player FM or going to my website “Ultimate Guide to Partnering“. Please review this podcast by going to iTunes and searching “Ultimate Guide to Partnering” and clicking on the album art and hitting the ratings tab. This helps others find the podcast.
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Vince Menzione